NEW ORLEANS — East Carolina’s Andrew Bodenheimer walked slowly off the Superdome field. He and the other receivers exited together, among the last Pirates to step off the turf and into the tunnel.

In the background near midfield, the trophy presentation began. The red-clad Ragin’ Cajun Nation celebrated a 43-34 victory. Those vocal Louisiana-Lafayette fans helped set a New Orleans Bowl attendance record of 48,828. They turned the dome into a temporary home and turned up the volume to assist their defense in protection of a slim fourth-quarter lead..

“I thought we had a chance there late in the game,” ECU Ruffin McNeill said. “I was proud of our players.”

Put simply though, East Carolina (8-5) committed too many mistakes to beat a solid team from the Sun Belt Conference.

Bodenheimer was the last Pirate to touch the football when victory remained within reach. But he didn’t hold on to Shane Carden’s pass. He took a hard blow from ULL cornerback Melvin White as the ball arrived, and the ball fell to the ground, near the ECU sidelines, a few feet from offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley.

Hanging onto Carden’s passes was a challenge for the Pirates, who recovered from an awful first half on defense, fought back from a 28-7 deficit to forge a tie at 31. Reese Wiggins dropped a sure touchdown early. There were at least five drops, unusual for a typically surehanded group of receivers.

“Our guys make routine catches and Shane does a good job delivering the ball,” ECU coach Ruffin McNeill said.

The Pirates had not played since Nov. 23rd. McNeill said that could have been a factor in disrupting the timing between passer and receiver, although he felt the team was sharp in practices as it prepared for the game.

Carden completed 25 of 42 passes for 278 yards. He felt the offense lost its rhythm after pulling within 37-31 after three quarters. The Pirates possessed the ball for only 3:53 in the final quarter, and its final stab at a game-winning drive fizzled after four plays on the 25-yard line, without gaining a first down.

ULL forced Carden out of the pocket on the final two series and the secondary covered up the ECU receivers.

“I’m not sure what it was,” Carden said. “They did a good job of changing the coverages. I just think it was more of us not executing routine plays.”

Carden wished for another shot at several pass attempts, including an underthrown ball ULL cornerback Jemarlous Moten intercepted near the end zone at 11:41 in the fourth quarter. The Pirates had seized momentum at that point, having just kicked a field goal to slice the deficit to 37-34, and then, intercepted a pass on the Ragin’ Cajuns side of the field.

ULL (9-4) stretched the lead to 40-34 with 3:11 remaining on a 25-yard field goal by Brett Baer, who was perfect on three attempts, including a 50-yarder.

The Pirates ran 11 plays for 46 yards in the final quarter.

Altogether, ULL racked up 591 yards total offense and 25 first downs. Heading that attack was quarterback Terrance Broadway, who was named the game’s MVP.

“I read a couple of articles from this week and they said they were going to try and key in on me,” Broadway said. “I knew that was going to open up the outside for our receivers.”

He rushed for 114 yards on 15 carries and completed 21 of 32 passes for 316 yards, accounting for two touchdowns.

“He understands their offense. He’s a good quarterback and he did a good job leading his team,” McNeill said.